While preparing a third opera we moved to US. In 1982 I founded Dublin Children’s Opera. Sadly Covid scuppered our plans for being together in Dublin for Christmas 2021. Moving to Paris with my two babies in 1978, I attended the Sorbonne and had my first art exhibition. In 1994 I was also on the fun team that launched Women in Film in France in Cannes.Īfter marrying in Dublin, I became a full-time student at Dún Laoghaire College of Art, interrupted by births of my daughter Nico and son Kristian. I have co-produced documentaries, and directed and produced documentary Walk on the Wild Side about my experiences with Stage 4 cancer. As time goes by I appreciate more what a great producer Sam Spiegel was. As European Producer for Prodigy Movies, I produced Australian thriller, Black Water. Subsequently I worked for many producers. My first real job was in swinging London at Horizon Pictures, Sam Spiegel’s film company, working on script development with screenwriters, buying film rights. The Irish-born girl flying gliders solo: ‘Going to Mars is my dream’.The Mayor of Auckland presented me with prize money and I spent it all on books. She claimed that if she had asked me, I would have said no. It was my teacher who had raided my desk. I was that girl, totally surprised as I hadn’t entered the contest. When I was 16 and at boarding school, the New Zealand Herald ran a front-page headline: “Convent girl wins nationwide short story competition”. I remember he said to me: Find what you love to do and do it till the day you die My father’s love of life is my inspiration. Love for the arts has propelled me to spend most of my life creating in film, music, art and children’s opera. We left 11 years later (we were now eight children) to live in Ireland. I ran around the deck rather than be at the ship’s school.Įventually arriving in New Zealand, I thought we were in paradise. He flew and we (mother and five children) went by ship on a magical trip through the Panama Canal, stopping in Curacao, Cristobal, Pitcairn Island and extraordinary places that had my favourite trees - palm trees. How more Irish do you want me to be?” That has become my instant response to anyone who wonders.ĭuring one Cannes Film Festival an arrogant producer asked me: “So, where are your roots?” I swiftly replied: “I am like the carrot you pull me out and I am the root”.īorn in London - my father Irish, my mother half Irish - I was seven years old when my father was appointed general surgeon in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. I regained my composure and answered: “ Joseph Mary Plunkett is my great uncle. The authenticity of my Irishness had never entered my head. I was shocked when I was asked “With a name like yours and your accent, should you be representing Ireland?” It was not what I expected to hear when I called the Irish Embassy in Paris where I was living, particularly as I had been selected to represent Ireland in the 1990 international art exhibition in Grenoble.
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